Japan 1945-1960

Synopsis

Post-World War II Japan faced a monumental struggle between labor and management. American postwar occupation goals included democratization to be achieved, in part, by the fostering of unionism. Management control of production and of the workplace in general eroded until the Mitsui Miike coal mine strike of 1959-1960. Management threats to discontinue safety precautions that been in place at the mine prompted the massive action, which lasted for more than nine months and involved 10,000 picketers a day and solidarity demonstrations by more than 300,000 workers across Japan. Ultimately, management reasserted its formerly eroded levels of control in a mediated settlement that addressed other worker concerns but not the safety issues. Historians are split on whether the resolution constituted a defeat or a victory for labor when viewed through the lens of Japan's future economic successes in...